Naked Pizza opens 1st AZ location in Ahwatukee

Naked Pizza

General manager Dee Bobel carefully spreads the crust of a Naked Pizza. The shop in Ahwatukee has been open for about two weeks but over 450 Naked Pizza stores are in development around the world.

Allison Hurtado/AFN

Naked Pizza

General Manager Dee Bobel cuts and prepares a pizza to be delivered. Naked Pizza just opened in Ahwatukee but they have over 450 stores in development around the world. Naked Pizza focuses on all natural products and no chemicals.

A new concept of healthy fast food is spreading across the world
and the first Arizona location opened in Ahwatukee Foothills about
two weeks ago.

Naked Pizza is a company that's only 18 months old and already
has 450 stores in development worldwide. Seventy new locations will
be opened by the end of the year.

The idea is simple: Fast nutrition in a carry out pizza.

"You actually feel so much better after you eat it because it's
got prebiotic agave fiber and probiotic bacteria, which is the
bacteria that's in yogurt," franchise owner Lori Cairns said. "They
developed a spore that goes around the bacteria so it makes it
through the heating process. So you get all the benefits of all
that stuff and that's just in the crust. Our crust isn't that white
stuff."

All the nutrition packed into the crust, while still tasting
good, was what resonated with Cairns and caused her to seek a
franchise. She said Naked Pizza carefully selects and awards its
franchises. Cairns believes she was chosen because of her work with
a group in Ahwatukee for years that provides services to kids with
autism.

"A lot of kids with autism have horrible gut issues," Cairns
said. "They can't handle gluten and some parents will give them the
prebiotic and probiotic bacteria as a supplement. When I was
reading about Naked Pizza it really responded to me on that level.
I did this because I wanted to bring Naked Pizza to that community
and this community as well."

The pizza company tries to be conscious of different consumers.
Cairns said in the kitchen different knives are used to cut
gluten-free, vegetarian and pizzas with meat. While they try to be
healthy and different, Cairns said they also work to make their
pizza taste like any other pizza.

On the outside, Naked Pizza brands itself as a modern, sleek and
quick-moving place. In the lobby, iPads allow customers to sign up
for free emails or check the nutritional information. The menu is
simple and easy to read, taking over an entire wall in the small
store front. The employees' goal is to get the pizzas out within 15
minutes and sent right away with a delivery driver who takes only
one order at a time.

"Naked means natural," said Robbie Vitrano, one of the
co-founders of Naked Pizza who came up with the branding. "The name
was chosen as a memorable name of course. We took two of the most
popular words in the English language, ‘naked' and ‘pizza.' We
really wanted a name that made you smile and signified that at its
core our pizza is made with all natural ingredients, no chemicals,
no preservatives, no hormones, no antibiotics."

Dee Bobel, general manager of the Ahwatukee location, has been
working with pizza for about 25 years. She was working for Dominoes
when she was approached with the idea and she says it's something
that just fit for her.

"It wasn't just the idea of a new company but it was the idea of
the prebiotics and probiotics because I have issues with that,
too," Bobel said. "The whole idea of it just struck me as
wonderful. To me it feels like a mom and pop pizza place because it
just tastes so good and fresh."

Cairns plans to open at least two more locations in her region,
which covers all of Ahwatukee and goes into Chandler and Gilbert.
Vitrano says corporate Naked Pizza is moving to Goodyear soon and
is planning on opening about six or seven corporate stores in the
Valley. The company is excited to move to Phoenix, which they say
has the best pizza market in the country.

While they grow at such a fast pace, the company is taking
advantage of social media to get the word out about their company
and their mission. They can be found on Facebook at
facebook.com/nakedpizza and Twitter @NakedPizza. Their full menu
can be found at nakedpizza.biz. The Ahwatukee location is located
at 48th Street and Elliot Road, next door to Phoenix Holistic
Health Center.